Yes, I disappeared. It all started with three sniffly kids and missing the Pusateri's Superbowl party. Now my kids have recovered and I'm wallowing in some kind of muck and have lost my blogging mojo. So there.

That's it. Just thought I'd let you know I'm still alive. I'll be back and witty sometime. Maybe. Well, probably back sometime. Witty is in the eye of the beholder.

You don't want to hear about American Idol, do you? Just one observation. . .There are people - many, many people - who see themselves as talented, beautiful, charming, witty, etc. And they're not. I just saw it with my own eyes. These people really think they've got something special and are willing to camp overnight in Detroit to prove it on national tv. And then they suck. Really. Out of 6000 people who camped out in Detroit they only found 22 who were remotely qualified to move to round 2. I've always fancied myself a reasonably good singer. From my couch I'm sure I'm better than most of the folks who just tried to sing on my television. I would NEVER camp out to try to prove it. What am I lacking? Perseverence? Dedication? Talent? Oh, stupidity. That's what I'm lacking.

Isaac & Emily are at a neat place in their relationship where they can have fun together for hours with very little fighting. Their interests seem to have merged into a nice groove balancing each of their personalities. It is a lot of fun to listen to them (watching them would disturb their natural environment).

So as I drove home yesterday I saw the personalized tag SLVR I30. It was on a silver Infinity I-30. Did this person have nothing better to do with $90 than get tags to tell me that he is an idiot? I like vanity tags. They give me something to read while I'm stuck in traffic. Tell me something about yourself in seven characters or less. Tell me about your hobbies. QUILTR. Tell me who you cheer for. RCK CHLK. Proud parent? Great! MY3SONS. Give me something to decode. 10SNE1. Make me smile. YGROWUP. But don't tell me what kind of car you have because I will make fun of you on the internet.

A friend called yesterday to tell us she had seen the Drive-Time commercial that Martin did in December. The chain is only in the Southwest US, so we'll only be catching it on our local stations. She saw it on the channel 7 news, so we spent much of the day perusing local channels trying to catch it. I'd forgotten how awful the local news is. Overhyped celebrity gossip and plastic surgery miracles top the newshour. And it goes downhill from there. L.A. has a reputation for being shallow. I don't know how anyone could dispute it. I'm not saying that the Kansas City local news was a whole lot better, but they didn't call the newest tummy-tuck procedure "news."

And after a torturous day of watching news waiting for commercial breaks, we never did catch it. Boy am I looking forward to the news tonight.

Had a playdate today. My friend Victoria brought her two kids. Victoria likes chocolate. This I know from our many discussions of food and the joy to be found therein. Now, I can't say that I came up with the idea out of the blue, but I made it sound like it. "Let's make cookies!" I exclaimed just minutes into the playdate. So I made a batch of my favorite standby chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (known to many of you as "Grandma cookies"). Three adults and four children devoured every morsel within three hours. Gone.

And kudos to our IT guy Michael who has both of our computers up and running on our T1 connection. It took him about 12.85 seconds to get it going. Impressive.

When we got to the Pusateri's for the party Isaac somehow found his way inside (they did a good job of keeping the entire party outside). He sat on the couch seemingly waiting for someone he knew to come and play and/or the television to be turned on. Zoe alerted Michael of this (I was in back delivering my cakes) and he found a video for Isaac despite the party raging outside. About 20 minutes later I thought he'd certainly had enough time to warm up to being the ONLY boy among 20-some girls at the fiesta. He told me he wanted to go to the girls' room where he hopped onto the bed and began jumping. (There was a GIANT inflatable bouncer in the front yard.) Then he complained that the bed wasn't very bouncy. With a bit of prodding and a promise that I'd hop into the bouncer too, Isaac finally joined the party.

Yes, I nearly got sick trying to keep my balance. But I did get my cardio for the day.

I'm baking cakes. Well, I'm done baking. Now I'm decorating. Zoe turned seven on Wednesday and tomorrow is the big shindig. I'm the unofficial cake maker in my circle of friends. And tonight I'm making lemon "Kirby" cupcakes and a two-layer white cake. I'll be decorating the white one very simply. Why? Because I don't want to be up all night and I think that drawing a Kirby character on 28 cupcakes is plenty. Geez. Get off my back already.

We went to Wal-Mart today and I managed to get out for less than $25 -- including paper plates and toilet paper. I was shocked when the checker told me my total. I'd always assumed that they had a $50 minimum.

And we're back on the Geocaching trail. The Visor with which we use our GPS unit seemed to be dead, but instead of giving up and buying another, Martin did a bit of searching and found a reset sequence. That along with a couple new duracells and we were on our way. It was a nice overcast day for a long walk with the kids. We all had a lot of fun.

I'm so mad about this that I have no words.

On a much lighter note, another homeschooler from the San Gabriel Valley contacted me through my listing in the Homeschool Social Register and we're meeting on Tuesday. Seems she has a seven-year-old named Emily too! And a 6 year old son. Isaac will be so happy. Almost all of our friends have two girls - no boys. I'm very much looking forward to it.

And finally, Martin & I watched The Surreal Life tonight. Please forgive us.

The wind is gone. It even rained a bit today. I'll take the change. Now we need to get a new rake. There's a whole lotta pine tree in our yard.

Today marks eleven years since Martin & I first kissed. It's an easy anniversary to remember. Elvis' birthday. There's always a story on the news that sparks the memory. Eleven years? That's like, a lot of my life. No turning back now.

Have I told you how amazing Audrey is? This is such a fun age. Tonight she took a sip of 7up from a straw, made the "what the heck was that?" face, then took another drink. She repeated the action several times, then I snuck a drink. Then she grabbed the straw and took another sip then shoved the straw into MY mouth. Repeated the action a few times. She was taking turns! When Martin came in, he asked for a drink and she pushed the straw into his mouth. I don't think you can understand how very cute this was. Come visit us and she'll show you :)

It was a good day to drive a low-profile vehicle. When I said it would be windy, I didn't know just how windy it would be. Wow. I didn't sleep much last night listening to the wind howl and hoping the three big evergreens in front of the house would stay upright. Lotsa folks lost power. We didn't. Not to say that we're guaranteed power all night tonight. It's blowing pretty hard again. But tonight my tired is stronger than my worry. Or at least I hope so.

Martin shoots another commercial tomorrow. Hooray.

Our friend Julie Clark sent us a big tin of popcorn from Topsy's in KC for Christmas. It's good popcorn, but the gift has gone far beyond just being snack food. Isaac has taken to the box in which it was shipped. He sits in it at least three hours a day. Watching tv, watching his sisters, decorating the interior, resting. Cute. But today the gift took on a whole new meaning when Audrey took the half-full tin and pushed it around the living room like a walker. Who needs Fisher-Price?

Peek-a-boo! Yes, dear Audrey figured it out today. So unbelievably cute. And she associates it with a particular blanket made by our friend Amy, so she'll peek-a-boo on demand. Just hand her the blanket. I don't remember the other two kids playing like she does. She's been figuring things out left and right lately. I swear I can see synapses firing behind her eyes sometimes.

The weather has been amazing lately. 80s the past three days. And then tonight the Santa Anas started blowing (translation: lotsa wind). Maybe gusts up to 70 mph for the next couple of days. Pretty sure I won't bother doing my hair.

Ok, I've gotten no further on the Christmas cards. Forgive me. You weren't actually waiting for one, were you?

We took the kids to the Build-A-Bear store today. They had gotten gift certificates for Christmas and Martin wanted to go before auditions got crazy again. It was fun. Em picked out a leopard and Isaac got a golden retriever. They both picked out skateboards and safety gear for their animals. We made a simple bear for Audrey and appropriately named him "Chewy." Spotty the leopard has taken on life and his own personality in his few hours of life. Walkie the dog hasn't been quite as active but I'm certain he'll catch up.

Many of you have been asking about photos, so I'll try to get some up in the next day or two. Until then, go here.

Happy New Year to you! We decided to be Pasadenans today and we went to see the floats after the parade. The detail is pretty amazing and the scent is delicious. I was astounded at the amount of people. At $6 a head they're not making out too badly. But really, I'm glad we went despite tired kids and crazy crowds. And the weather was beautiful. There's a reason people live out here. . .and it aint the cheesesteaks.

I'm gonna cut this short so I can address some Christmas cards (it's true) and go to bed early. The crabby tired kids got the best of me today.